A/N: Well, I have to say that I do not know anything about adoptions or custody agreements in the state of Florida or anywhere else for that matter. With that said, please read on.

At the West home, something was definitely up. The kids had gotten home from school on that Tuesday afternoon half an hour ago, and Mary and Wilson had been home from their meeting with the social worker an hour ago. As soon as they walked in the house, Mary announced that she needed to be alone and locked herself in the bedroom. Wilson tried and tried to get her to let him in, but she refused. He screamed something at her through the door about how her being this stubborn was making everything worse; extending the period that Mary would give the cold shoulder.

When Natalie and Billy arrived home that afternoon, the atmosphere in the house was different. Natalie was too young to realize what was going on, but Billy picked up on it fairly quickly. Their parents were having a fight, or were at least at odds with one another. If Billy had to guess, their conflict probably had something to do with that woman at the door last night. She seemed oddly familiar to him. Natalie didn't recognize it because they barely fought. The last fight they had had was over something about Mary's thirtieth birthday last year. It wasn't that big of a deal, so the kids didn't really know what was going on.

"Dad, why won't Mom come out of the bedroom?" Natalie asked as she rummaged through her backpack.

"Your mother just needs to be alone right now," Wilson answered.

"What did you guys do today?" Billy asked, not coming clean with what he had already figured out.

"We ran a few errands and sat around, nothing important."

Billy looked up at his father and stared right through the façade he had put up. "You two had a fight, didn't you?"

"No they didn't," Natalie said seriously to her big brother. "Mom and dad don't fight. They love each other."

"Just because two people love each other doesn't mean that they can't fight," Billy told her.

Wilson ducked out of the room, up the staircase, and into the bedroom. Miraculously, the door had been unlocked. Mary was sitting on the bed watching an afternoon talk show on television. Mary stared blankly at the screen. Wilson laughed at her. He knew for a fact that Mary hated the host of that particular show with a passion; for whatever reason she disagreed with everything that woman stood for.

"Did you come in here just to mock me, or are you going to make me speak to you?"

"I just came up here to give you a hug- a nonverbal hug."

"Why?" Mary questioned.

"Because I love you with everything I had and it took our children remind me of that."

Wilson approached Mary but she turned away from him. "They are not our children. It's your son and our niece. And in a few days, Natalie wont even be in the equation. Subtract a daughter, add one big whole in my heart."

Wilson wrapped his arms around Mary and she finally let him embrace her. "Does this help at all?"

"No, but it doesn't hurt either."

Their attempt at salvation was cut short. There was a knock at the door and Billy stepped into the room.

"I don't think asking you guys what is going on here is out of line, is it? I know, me son, you parents, but what I just heard…"

Mary closed her eyes tightly and buried her head into Wilson's chest. Yet another mistake, Billy overheard them. Before Wilson or Mary had a chance to react to each other, the telephone rang. It was as if the sound paralyzed them all, the three stood perfectly still. Natalie's voice rang throughout the house, startling them just as quickly as the phone-paralysis had been brought about.

"Can I go over to Lisa's house? I barely have any homework," she yelled up the stairs.

Wilson walked to the top of the stairs. "Be home before dinner," he said loudly.

Wilson went back into the bedroom and to the exact same spot he had occupied before. They waited until they heard Natalie slam the front door on her way out to her friend's house before speaking again.

"What is going on with Nat? Is something wrong with her?"

Mary sighed heavily and looked up at Wilson. "Should we tell him?"

Wilson put his hand on Mary's cheek and rubbed his thumb over her soft skin. He knew how much she was hurting; he could feel it just being in the room with her. "Why not? He's going to find out eventually."

Mary grabbed Wilson's hand and Billy's. "Sit down," she instructed, "both of you."

"This is serious, isn't it?" Billy asked quietly.

"Very serious," Mary said. "The thing is, Billy…" Mary paused for a second. How could she do this to him? It wasn't a mother's job to shatter her son's entire world. But she was not his mother, she was Mary, and it was Mary's job to do things like this. She was one perpetual life-changing event. "Natalie is not your sister. She's your cousin." Mary waited for a second to allow the information to seep in, then continued. "Do you remember my sister Ruthie?"

"I think so. I'm not sure, though."

"Well, she came to live with us when your father and I first got married. You were barely seven then."

"Why did she come to live with us?"

Mary turned to Wilson. "Your turn."

Wilson sighed. "When Ruthie was twelve, she got pregnant. She came to live with us until she had the baby…Natalie. After she had her, she ran off with her boyfriend to Missouri and we got custody of Natalie. We hadn't heard from her since, until last night. Remember when you answered the door?" Billy nodded. "That was Ruthie."

Billy looked down at the floor. "That's a lot to swallow." After a minute, he looked up at Mary and into her eyes. "Why did you keep this from us? Why did you tell everyone, including Natalie, that she was your daughter?"

Tears welled up in Mary's eyes. "We didn't think that Ruthie was coming back. And the more time that passed, and the older she got, it only seemed like the right thing to do. Kids don't live with their aunt and uncle, they live with their parents."

Billy nodded. He, more than anyone, understood the value of parents and family and general. He could clearly pictures days from when he was younger that his father was just so exhausted he didn't know what to do with himself. He could never forget the joy he possessed when his father married, and would carry that with him until the day he died. Billy truly felt, despite how much he had messed up other people's lives, that he was blessed. He was blessed because of Mary and his father. Natalie was blessed, too. They were great parents Mary was a great mother. He always knew Mary didn't give birth to him, but it didn't make him love her any less. It didn't make her love him any less, either.  He could see thins from Natalie's perspective from his unique position, and even was able to get inside his parents heads. He really and truly understood.

"But now…Ruthie wants Natalie back. In Florida, if the birth parent wants their kid back they can just have them, regardless of what is better for the child or who can provide a more stable home life. Your father and I met with a social worker today and it seems pretty hopeless from our standpoint. It seems that on Friday…" Mary got too choked up to finish.

"On Friday Natalie is going to be put under Ruthie's care for good," Wilson finished.

"What?" Billy said in disbelief.

Mary started to sob. Wilson looked down at her in dismay; there wasn't much he could do anymore. He went to hug Mary in attempts to comfort her, but Billy stopped him.

"Let me," he said. Billy reached out and wrapped his arms around Mary. "I love you Mom. And if this is what's meant to be then there isn't anything we can do to stop it. Things often have a way of working themselves out."

Mary pulled away from Billy. "You know who you remind me of?" she said to him without thinking.

"Who?"

"My older brother, Matt."

"I didn't know you had an older brother."

"Oh, yeah. He would always talk with my parents and figure things out before the rest of us kids.

As Mary finished her stroll down memory lane and Billy went on to grant Mary and Wilson some privacy after swearing not to tell Natalie a thing they had spoken about, only one thing from the aforementioned conversation stuck out in Wilson's mind. Matt. Yet another brilliant idea sparked by Mary's negligence and kicked into high gear with a telephone call.

A/N: I am shocked at the amount of reviews I have been getting. I really feel blessed that you guys like my stuff. Thank you for everything.

Please continue to review. It makes my world go 'round.